And the sons of Israel, carried away captive, from among their brethren two hundred thousand, wives, sons and daughters, moreover also, of much spoil, did they plunder them, - and brought the spoil to Samaria.

At that time did king Ahaz send unto the kings of Assyria to help him.

Then Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came against Ahaz; he oppressed him and did not give him support.

Although Ahaz plundered the Lord’s temple and the palace of the king and of the rulers and gave the plunder to the king of Assyria, it did not help him.

And in the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the LORD: this is that king Ahaz.

The rest of his accomplishments, and records of everything he did from first to last are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.

Ahaz rested with his fathers and was buried in the city, in Jerusalem, but they did not bring him into the tombs of the kings of Israel. His son Hezekiah became king in his place.

And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David his father had done.

For our fathers were unfaithful and did what is evil in the sight of the Lord our God. They abandoned Him, turned their faces away from the Lord’s tabernacle, and turned their backs on Him.

They also closed the doors of the portico, extinguished the lamps, did not burn incense, and did not offer burnt offerings in the holy place of the God of Israel.

Moreover all the utensils, which king Ahaz in his reign did cast away in his transgression, have we prepared and sanctified, and, behold, they are before the altar of the LORD.

and the priests slaughtered them, and sin-cleansed, with their blood, the altar, to put a propitiatory-covering over all Israel,-because, for all Israel, did the king appoint the ascending-sacrifice and the offering for bearing sin.

But the priests were too few, so that they could not skin all the burnt offerings: therefore their brethren the Levites did help them, till the work was ended, and until the other priests had sanctified themselves: for the Levites were more upright in heart to sanctify themselves than the priests.

And they will set up a word to cause a voice to pass in all Israel, from the well of the oath, and even to judgment, to come to do the passover to Jehovah God of Israel in Jerusalem: for they did not for much time as written.

Don’t become obstinate now like your fathers did. Give your allegiance to Yahweh, and come to His sanctuary that He has consecrated forever. Serve the Lord your God so that He may turn His burning anger away from you,

And they arose and put away the altars that were in Jerusalem. And thereto all the incense they did away and cast them into the brook Kidron.

For [there were] many in the assembly who did not consecrate themselves, so the Levites [were] over the killing of the Passover sacrifices for all who [were] not clean, to consecrate [them] to Yahweh.

For a multitude of the people, even many of Ephraim, and Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet did they eat the passover contrary to what was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, The good LORD pardon everyone

And Hezekiah spoke encouragingly unto all the Levites that taught the good knowledge of the LORD: and they did eat throughout the feast seven days, offering peace offerings, and making confession to the LORD God of their fathers.

After this, the whole assembly agreed to celebrate for another seven days, and so they did and they were very happy to do so!

For Hezekiah king of Judah did give to the congregation a thousand bullocks and seven thousand sheep; and the princes gave to the congregation a thousand bullocks and ten thousand sheep: and a great number of priests sanctified themselves.

Everyone in the assembly of Judah rejoiced, as did the priests, the descendants of Levi, and the people who gathered together from throughout Israel, including those who came from the land of Israel and those who lived in Judah.

And, as for the sons of Israel and Judah who were dwelling in the cities of Judah, even they, a tithe of oxen, and sheep, and a tithe of hallowed things, which had been hallowed unto Yahweh their God, did bring in and pile up - heaps, heaps.

And Hezekiah bade dress up the store houses about the house of the LORD. And so they did,

For to the fidelity of them did men commit their sanctified gifts. And thereto among the children of Aaron the priests were men named by name in the fields of the suburbs of all their cities, city by city, for to give portions to all the males of the priests and to all that were reckoned among the Levites.

And thus did Hezekiah throughout all Judah, and did that which was good and right and true before the LORD his God.

And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, and in the law, and in the commandments, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart, and prospered.

He took counsel with his princes and his mighty men to stop the waters of the fountains which were outside the city: and they did help him.

After this did Sennacherib king of Assyria send his servants to Jerusalem, (but he himself laid siege against Lachish, and all his forces with him,) unto Hezekiah king of Judah, and unto all Judah that were at Jerusalem, saying,

Didn’t Hezekiah himself remove His high places and His altars and say to Judah and Jerusalem, “You must worship before one altar, and you must burn incense on it”?

Will ye not know what I did, I and my fathers, to all the peoples of the lands? Being able, were the gods of the nations of the lands able to deliver their land from my hand?

And yet more did his servants speak against the LORD God and against his servant Hezekiah.

He also wrote letters to mock Yahweh, the God of Israel, saying against Him:

Just like the national gods of the lands that did not deliver their people from my power, so Hezekiah’s God will not deliver His people from my power.

Thus did Yahweh save Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem out of the hand of Sennacherib king of Assyria, and out of the hand of every one, - and gave them rest on every side.

However, because his heart was proud, Hezekiah didn’t respond according to the benefit that had come to him. So there was wrath on him, Judah, and Jerusalem.

Then Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart—he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem—so the Lord’s wrath didn’t come on them during Hezekiah’s lifetime.

This same Hezekiah blocked the outlet of the water of the Upper Gihon and channeled it smoothly downward and westward to the city of David. Hezekiah succeeded in everything he did.

Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and the good he did, are recorded in the vision of Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, and in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.

And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the upper sepulchers of the sons of David: and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem did him honor at his death. And Manasseh his son reigned in his stead.

But did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, like unto the abominations of the nations, which the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel.

And he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom: also he practiced soothsaying, and used sorcery, and used witchcraft, and dealt with mediums, and with wizards: he did much evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.

So Manasseh caused Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to stray so that they did worse evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites.

The Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they didn’t listen.

Nevertheless the people did sacrifice still in the high places, yet unto the LORD their God only.

But he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, as did Manasseh his father: for Amon sacrificed unto all the carved images which Manasseh his father had made, and served them;

But he did not humble himself before the Lord like his father Manasseh humbled himself; instead, Amon increased his guilt.

And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the ways of David his father, and turned aside neither to the right hand, nor to the left.

And so did he in the cities of Manasseh, and Ephraim, and Simeon, even unto Naphtali, in their ruins round about.

And in the wildernesses of them round about he plucked asunder the altars and the groves and did beat them and stamp them to powder, and beat down the idols throughout all the land of Israel: and then returned to Jerusalem again.

And they gave it into the hand of them that did the work, that had the oversight of the house of Jehovah; and they gave it to the workmen who wrought in the house of Jehovah to reinstate and repair the house:

And the men did the work faithfully: and the overseers of them were Jahath and Obadiah, the Levites, of the sons of Merari; and Zechariah and Meshullam, of the sons of the Kohathites, to have oversight; and other of the Levites, all that were skillful with instruments of music.

Also they were over the bearers of burdens, and were overseers of all that did the work in any kind of service: and of the Levites there were scribes, and officers, and gatekeepers.

Then did the king command Hilkiah - and Ahikam son of Shaphan - and Abdon son of Micah - and Shaphan the scribe - and Asaiah servant of the king, saying:

Because your heart was tender, and you did humble yourself before God, when you heard his words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and humbled yourself before me, and did tear your clothes, and weep before me; I have even heard you also, says the LORD.

And the king went up to the house of the Lord with all the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests, the Levites, and all the people, from the greatest to the least; and he read aloud so they could hear all the words of the Book of the Covenant which was found in the house of the Lord.

And he caused all that were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand to it. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers.

So Josiah removed everything that was detestable from all the lands belonging to the Israelites, and he required all who were present in Israel to serve the Lord their God. Throughout his reign they did not turn aside from following Yahweh, the God of their ancestors.

And said unto the Levites that taught all Israel, who were holy unto the LORD, Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel did build; it shall no longer be a burden upon your shoulders: serve now the LORD your God, and his people Israel,

And, his rulers, willingly, to the people and to the priests and to the Levites, presented, - Hilkiah and Zechariah and Jehiel, chief rulers of the house of God, unto the priests, did give, for passover offerings, two thousand and six hundred, and, of bullocks, three hundred;

And they put the Passover lambs to death, the blood being drained out by the priests when it was given to them, and the Levites did the skinning.

And they removed the burnt offerings, that they might give according to the divisions of the families of the people, to offer unto the LORD, as it is written in the book of Moses. And so did they with the oxen.

And the singers the sons of Asaph were in their place, according to the commandment of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun the king's seer; and the gatekeepers waited at every gate; they did not need to depart from their service; for their brethren the Levites prepared for them.

And there was no passover like that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet; neither did all the kings of Israel keep such a passover as Josiah kept, and the priests, and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel that were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

But Josiah did not turn away from him; instead, in order to fight with him he disguised himself. He did not listen to Neco’s words from the mouth of God, but went to the Valley of Megiddo to fight.

The rest of the events of Josiah's reign, including the faithful acts he did in obedience to what is written in the law of the Lord

Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD his God.

And, some of the utensils of the house of Yahweh, did Nebuchadnezzar carry to Babylon, - and put them in his own temple in Babylon.

Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and his abominations which he did, and that which was found in him, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah: and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead.

Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD.

And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD his God, and humbled not himself before Jeremiah the prophet speaking from the mouth of the LORD.

He brought against them the king of the Babylonians, who slaughtered their young men in their temple. He did not spare young men or women, or even the old and aging. God handed everyone over to him.

Even those did Cyrus king of Persia bring forth by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and counted them out unto Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah.

All the articles of gold and of silver were five thousand and four hundred. All these did Sheshbazzar bring up with those of the captivity that were brought up from Babylon unto Jerusalem.

They searched for their records in the genealogical materials, but did not find them. They were therefore excluded from the priesthood.

But, when the seventh month was come, and the sons of Israel were in cities, then did the people gather themselves together as one man, unto Jerusalem.

Afterward, the daily burnt offering also, and of the new moons and of all the feast days of the LORD that were hallowed, and all manner of freewill offerings, which they did of their own freewill unto the LORD.

so that the people could not distinguish the noise of the shout of joy, from the noise of the weeping of the people, - for, the people, did shout with a great shout, and, the noise, was heard afar off.

Then ceased the work of the house of God, which was in Jerusalem, - yea it did cease, until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.

Now the prophets, Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem; in the name of the God of Israel did they prophesy to them.

And the eye of their God was on the elders of the Jews, and they did not stop them until the report came to Darius, and then [answer] was received.

And the articles also of gold and silver of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple that was in Jerusalem, and brought them into the temple of Babylon, those did Cyrus the king take out of the temple of Babylon, and they were delivered unto one, whose name was Sheshbazzar, whom he had made governor;

"Now if the king is so inclined, let a search be conducted in the royal archives there in Babylon in order to determine whether King Cyrus did in fact issue orders for this temple of God to be rebuilt in Jerusalem. Then let the king send us a decision concerning this matter."

Then Tattenai, governor on this side of the river, Shethar-boznai, and their companions, according to that which Darius the king had sent, so they did speedily.

And the responsible men of the Jews went on with their building, and did well, helped by the teaching of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah, the son of Iddo. They went on building till it was complete, in keeping with the word of the God of Israel, and the orders given by Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes, king of Persia.

Then did the sons of Israel, the priests and the Levites, and the rest of the Sons of the Exile, keep the dedication of this house of God, with joy;

And the children of Israel, who had come again out of captivity, and all such as had separated themselves unto them from the filthiness of the nations of the land, to seek the LORD God of Israel, did eat,

This Ezra was a perfect scribe in the law of Moses, which the LORD God of Israel did give. And the king gave him all that he required, according to the hand of the LORD his God upon him.

And I gathered them to the river which runs to Ahava. And we stayed there in tents three days. And I looked over the people and the priests, and did not find there any of the sons of Levi.

I did this because I was ashamed to ask the king for infantry and cavalry to protect us from enemies during the journey, since we had told him, “The hand of our God is gracious to all who seek Him, but His great anger is against all who abandon Him.”

For we are slaves and in our bondage our God did not forsake us, and he has extended to us loyal love in the presence of the kings of Persia, to give to us deliverance [and] to set up the house of our God, to repair its ruins, and to give us a wall in Judea and Jerusalem.

Then Ezra rose up from before the house of God, and went into the chamber of Jehohanan the son of Eliashib: and when he came there, he did eat no bread, nor drink water: for he mourned because of the transgression of them that had been carried away.

Anyone who did not come within three days, by decision of the officials and elders, all of his possessions would be devoted to God, and he himself would be excluded from the assembly of exiles.

And the children of the captivity did so. And Ezra the priest, with certain heads of the fathers' houses, according to their fathers' houses, and each of them by name, were set apart, and sat down in the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter.

and Hanani, one of my brethren, came with certain men of Judah, and I asked them how the Jews did that were delivered and escaped from the captivity, and how it went at Jerusalem.

And did ye turn back to me and watch my commands and do them; if there shall be a thrusting forth of you into the extremity of the heavens, from thence will I gather them and bring them to the place which I chose for my name to dwell there.

I got up at night and took a few men with me. I didn’t tell anyone what my God had laid on my heart to do for Jerusalem. The only animal I took was the one I was riding.

And the rulers knew not where I went, or what I did; neither had I as yet told it to the Jews, nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers, nor to the rest that did the work.

Men from Jericho did repairs next to him, and Imri's son Zaccur did repairs next to them.

But the fish gate did the sons of Hassenaah build, who also laid the beams thereof, and set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof.

Beside them the Tekoites made repairs, but their nobles did not lift a finger to help their supervisors.